Version Differences
Between the regional release dates, the developers made some changes to the game. Since several time-saving glitches were removed, it is highly recommended to use the US version for speedruns. These are all known versions of Donkey Kong 64: *'NTSC-U', aka US/NA: North American version, released on November 24, 1999 *'PAL': European/Australian version, released on December 6, 1999 *'NTSC-J', aka JP: Japanese version, released on December 10, 1999 There are no re-releases on other platforms like Virtual Console. US Differences *When a character is talking, six lines of text at most can be displayed. *Swim Through Vertical Walls was fixed in PAL and JP. *In PAL and JP, Swim Through Shores does not work on fairy island, but you can still use it on DK island and swim beneath the ground to get there. *DK can roll into the square platforms near K. Lumsy's prison. This does not work in PAL and JP, as invisible walls keep you from clipping. *In Jungle Japes, Hunky Chunky can jump through Tiny's shell in the area with warp pad 5. This only works in US. *Inside the mill in Fungi Forest, you can walk through the gap between a beam and a box near the Mini Monkey entrance using DK, Chunky or Lanky. For the later versions, the box was extended to the right side, which removed the gap. *If you charge up the shockwave attack with Chunky, walk up to a boulder and release B while it's in mid-air, Chunky will be holding an invisible rock. This also freezes the game sometimes. In PAL and JP, he loses the invisible rock immediately so the game can't freeze. *The banana medals in Hideout Helm will be grayed out forever if you don't collect them before leaving. This was fixed in PAL and JP. *The propellers on K. Rool island and inside Snide's H.Q. were changed from red to blue in PAL and JP. *A person called L. Godfrey was removed from the Rare Testing part of the staff roll in later versions of the game. *If you interrupt the End Sequence and watch it again, the text will continue from where it left off and eventually start from the beginning. Right before that, the number 33 will be displayed. PAL Differences *US and JP run at 60 Hz and ~30 fps, but PAL runs at 50 Hz and ~25 fps, which is 1.2 times slower. However, the lag compensation speeds up the kongs so they move as fast as in the NTSC versions. Everything besides movement (cutscenes, menus, enemies, ...) is slower than in NTSC. *When a character is talking, only four and a half lines of text at most can be displayed due to greater line spacing. *US and JP are English or Japanese only, respectively, whereas PAL has a language section in the options menu that features English, Spanish, German and French. *The part of the Forest boss intro cutscene where Chunky bows in fear was cut out. *The staff roll features German, French, and Spanish Translators as well as NOE Testing. JP Differences *You can't skip blue text with B, but it is shorter and you can still hold A to speed it up. *When a character is talking, seven and a half lines of text at most can be displayed because the speech bubbles are bigger. *The Nintendo logo at the start is white, as opposed to red in US and PAL. *A different font is used for white text. *The title screen shows the Japanese translation of Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング) below the game logo. *The text on the signposts inside DK island is Japanese. *The trigger zone for the Diddy cutscene in Japes was enlarged, making the standard cutscene skip impossible. However, you can use orange lag to increase your kick distance and still reach the warp pad. *You can swim through a spot at K. Rool's ship where several polygons meet in order to get to Gloomy Galleon. The collision detection on that spot was fixed. *The ground next to the slanted wall on the llama temple was changed in a way that makes you slide off of it. In order to clip inside the temple you would need to fly into that wall at a specific angle, which is significantly harder than the C-up or orange clip. *When you first enter Troff 'n' Scoff's room, the cutscene that plays will show up a few seconds later than in US and PAL. This prevents a softlock that occurs if you play in a duped file and the boss door is already open. *If you interrupt the End Sequence and watch it again, the text will continue from where it left off and eventually start from the beginning. Right before that, a line of Japanese text will be displayed.